Psalms 55:9

Confuse them, ¹  O Lord! Frustrate their plans! ²  For I see violence and conflict in the city.

Confuse the wicked, O Lord, confound their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.

Confuse, O Lord, divide their tongues, For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

Destroy them, Lord, and confuse their speech, for I see violence and strife in the city.

Come down hard, Lord--slit their tongues. I'm appalled how they've split the city Into rival gangs prowling the alleys

Send destruction on them, O Lord, make a division of tongues among them: for I have seen fighting and violent acts in the town.

Confuse, O Lord, confound their speech; for I see violence and strife in the city.

Destroy, O Lord, and divide their tongues, For I have seen violence and strife in the city.

Confuse them, ¹  O Lord! Frustrate their plans! ²  For I see violence and conflict in the city.

¹ tn Traditionally בַּלַּע (bala’) has been taken to mean “swallow” in the sense of “devour” or “destroy” (cf. KJV), but this may be a homonym meaning “confuse” (see BDB 118 s.v. בַּלַּע; HALOT 135 s.v. III *בֶּלַע). “Their tongue” is the understood object of the verb (see the next line).

² tn Heb “split their tongue,” which apparently means “confuse their speech,” or, more paraphrastically, “frustrate the plans they devise with their tongues.”